Nanotechnology Investing

Today's feature for instance takes a critical look at the apparent arms race going on among nanotechnology investing and consulting firms as to who can come up with the highest figure for the size of the "nanotechnology market".



The current record stands at $2.95 trillion by 2015. The problem with these forecasts is that they are based on a highly inflationary data collection and compilation methodology. The result is that the headline figures - $1 trillion!, $2 trillion!, $3 trillion! - are more reminiscent of supermarket tabloids than serious market research.

Some would call it pure hype. This type of market size forecast leads to misguided expectations because few people read the entire report and in the end only the misleading trillion-dollar headline figure gets quoted out of context, even by people who should now better, and finally achieves a life by itself.